Drug trafficking in Central America is emerging as a major threat to forests, as smugglers cut trees for secret roads, landing strips and fake farms to launder money, researchers said Thursday.

This widespread environmental abuse in remote regions of Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua is a direct result of US anti-drug policies, experts wrote in the journal Science.

"In response to the crackdown in Mexico, drug traffickers began moving south into Central America around 2007 to find new routes through remote areas to move their drugs from South America and get them to the United States," said lead author Kendra McSweeney, a geography professor at Ohio State University.

Effective control of invasive weeds can help attempts at reforestation in PanamaLondon, UK (SPX) Jan 30, 2014
Saccharum spontaneum is an invasive grass that has spread extensively in disturbed areas throughout the Panama Canal watershed, where it has created a fire hazard and inhibited reforestation efforts.
The weed originally believed to be originally from India, is perfectly adapted to the conditions in Panama and produces excessive amounts of biomass during the wet season, which impedes refore ... read more

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